Réseau "Démocratie ELectronique"

CfP "(Re)creating public sphere, civic culture and civic engagement", International Journal of E-Governance

Stéphanie Wojcik — 2010-09-07T08:40:11Z

International Journal of Electronic Governance (IJEG)
http://www.inderscience.com/ijeg

Call For Papers • Special Issue

(Re)creating public sphere, civic culture and civic engagement : public service media vs. online social networks

Guest Editors :
Prof. Petros Iosifidis
Dept of Sociology
City University London, UK
e-mail : P.Iosifidis@city.ac.uk

Prof. Michael Meimaris
Dept of Communication and Media Studies
University of Athens, Greece
e-mail : mmeimaris@media.uoa.gr

Deadline for paper submission : September 10, 2010

The net generation, growing up with the internet and other online media, is widely assumed to consist of more responsible citizens, using their technological expertise to campaign on social and political issues, exercise closer scrutiny over their governments, genuinely being more politically engaged. Citizens of the so-called ‘global village', ‘virtual democracy', ‘electronic agora' or ‘blogosphere' are said to fulfil the dream of a unified and interconnected world. The unprecedented expansion of Online Social Networks (OSN) such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn & Twitter offers vast opportunities for communication, entertainment & chatting. These online forums differ from traditional media, such as Public Service Media (PSM), in that they allow more interactivity and many-to-many communication. But they have some similarities to Habermas' concept of the public sphere : net spheres are public places that are outside of control by the state ; they allow individuals to exchange views and knowledge as well as critical points of view ; they are spaces where public-minded rational consensus can be developed.

The advantages of cyber-media are that they are not confined to frequency bandwidth ; any one can be a ‘publisher' (ability to voice one's opinion ; collective action) ; they provide access (to all with internet account) ; they are self-generating social networks, allowing networks to form from participation, rather than structuring relationships from the top. However, the net can turn to be a noisy, uncontrolled environment ; the open participation may turn chaotic, so there can be no model rules of behaviour or structured conversation ; texts and voices may result in anarchic, rather than democratic forms of participation. What is more, there are linguistic barriers and blogging sites are typically dominated by white male voices & polarized opinion. The very notion of openness is at stake as there is limited competition among providers. Inclusiveness can be an issue too – not all people use the Net due to cost considerations or lack of skills, especially in the developing world. Most crucially, critical discussion – the very notion of the Public Sphere – is often absent on the Net, whose content is highly partisan.

So, is it a myth that the Internet can revamp the Public Sphere, tackle political apathy and mobilize citizens ? Not entirely, for there are plenty of good examples to show the opposite, as evidenced by Barack Obama's online campaign to activism on Facebook and Twitter and the Twitter-aided demonstrators in Moldova and Iran against the fraud parliamentary election results and the Iranian authoritarian government respectively. Groups in Facebook can choose to support the lineralisation of Tibet ; Twitter often has real-time updates on events like the Mumbai terrorist attacks. These examples highlight the Net's informative and mobilising power.

Subject Coverage

This special issue seeks research articles and case studies that can address the broad theme of (re)creating public sphere, civic culture and civic engagement through Public Service Media vs. Online Social Networks and offer argumentation and analysis on the following issues :

Has the mobilising and democratising power of the Internet been exaggerated ?
Has the Net the ability to offer critical political discussion ?
Can the OSN contribute to the (re)creation of Public Sphere, Civic Culture, Civic Engagement, and therefore address the Democratic deficit ?
Is violation of privacy in pursuit of profit an issue of concern ?
Will the networks be viable, or are we heading for another Internet bubble, given that people log in to chat with friends, thus not paying attention to ads, as well as ad firms' scepticism to advertising their products and services next to user-gen content ?
Is it about time we looked again at PSM for recreating the Public Sphere, tackling political apathy, and offering a better space for rational debate and culture dissemination in light of their openness to all at affordable prices ; offerings of new open forms of distribution & access, including archives, pod-casts and digital distribution ; trustworthiness as credible information source and safe spaces for discussion ?

Notes for Intending Authors

Submitted papers should not have been previously published or be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. All papers are refereed through a double blind process. A guide for authors, sample copies and other relevant information for submitting papers are available on the IJEG Submission of Papers web-page.

All papers must be submitted online through the IJEG On-line Submissions System. If you experience any problems submitting your paper online, please contact submissions@inderscience.com, describing the exact problem you experience. Please include in your email the title of the Journal.

Important Dates

Deadline for paper submission : September 10, 2010
Notification of review results : December 10, 2010
Submission of revised manuscripts : January 10, 2011

The special issue will be published in Spring 2011.

GIBSON Rachel & al. (eds), The internet and the 2010 election putting the small 'p' back in politics ?, september 2010

Stéphanie Wojcik — 2010-09-07T07:56:59Z

The internet and the 2010 election putting the small ‘p' back in politics ?
Edited by Rachel K. Gibson, Andy Williamson and Stephen Ward
Published by the Hansard Society
September 2010

Download the report

See the presentation on the Hansard Society website.

CfP 11the European Conference on eGoverment (ECEG), Ljubljana (Slovenia), 16-17 June 2011

Stéphanie Wojcik — 2010-09-06T18:01:22Z

This is a call for papers for the 11th European Conference on eGovernment (ECEG), being held at the Faculty of Administration, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia on the 16-17 June 2011.

The call is open until 25th of November 2010.

As governments seek to remodel and restyle their services, e-Government continues to arouse interest and attention. New dynamic issues such as e-democracy, e-citizenship, e-Identity and e-voting have become core elements in the development of public sector delivery. The multi-tier nature of e-Government, relevant at local government, central government but also at the supranational level such as the European Union, makes it of importance to academics and practitioners alike. Vital questions are posed which link technological development and a streamlining of government services to more social based values of inclusion, accessibility and power relationship ratios

e-Government encompasses more than just technology – it challenges the way in which public sector service providers and citizens interact. Democratic renewal, the transformation of service delivery, community leadership and citizenship integration are all key elements of this fascinating subject. e-Governemnt is tightly related to legal, economical and organisational fields and as such holds a strong interdisciplinary status.

The conference committee welcomes contributions on a wide range of topics using a range of scholarly approaches including theoretical and empirical papers employing qualitative, quantitative and critical methods. Case studies and work-in-progress/posters are welcomed approaches. PhD Research, proposals for roundtable discussions, non-academic contributions and product demonstrations based on the main themes are also invited. A full call for papers, including how to submit can be found at :

http://academic-conferences.org/eceg/eceg2011/eceg11-call-papers.htm

CfP 4th International Conference on Online Communities and Social Computing, session on "e-Deliberation 2.0", Orlando (USA), 9-14 July 2011

Stéphanie Wojcik — 2010-09-06T17:55:27Z

HCI International 2011
4th International Conference on Online Communities and Social Computing
Parallel Session on "e-Deliberation 2.0"

CALL FOR PAPERS

Contributions are invited for a session "e-Deliberation 2.0", to be held as a parallel session within the 4th International Conference on Online Communities and Social Computing, in the context of HCI International 2011, Orlando, Florida, USA, 9-14 July 2011 (http://www.hcii2011.org).

For the topics of interest of this session and other details, please see the call for papers attached. Submissions will be blind peer reviewed on the basis of extended abstracts between 1,300 and 1,600 words, to be sent by email (MS-Word format) no later than the 1st of November 2010 to the session organizers. Abstracts must include the title of the paper, the full names and e-mail addresses of all authors and a telephone number for at least one contact author.

Further publication opportunities of extended versions of the papers will be considered in the form of a journal's special issue or an edited book.

Contacts :
Dr. Dimitra Milioni, Cyprus University of Technology, Dept. of Communication and Internet Studies
Dimitra.Milioni@cut.ac.cy

Dr. Dimitris Gouscos, University of Athens, Greece, Dept. of Communication and Media Studies
gouscos@media.uoa.gr

CfP 61st PSA Annual Conference, Media and Politics Group stream of panels, London (UK), 19-21 April 2011

Stéphanie Wojcik — 2010-09-06T12:15:41Z

Call for Papers

61st Political Studies Association Annual Conference - Transforming Politics : New Synergies

Media and Politics Group stream of panels

19 - 21 April 2011 Novotel London West, London (UK)

Deadline : Friday 22nd October, 2010

The 61st Political Studies Association Annual Conference is to be held in West London, and the Association's Media and Politics Group (the MPG) will again be providing its own stream of panels, for which we invite proposals. While the conference is themed on ne synergies in transforming politics, papers dealing with any aspect of media and politics will be considered.

Proposals should include the following : title and name, institutional affiliation and address, and preferred email address ; together with, a paper title and abstract of not more than 200 words ; and, whether or not you are a postgraduate student.

Proposals should be sent on or before Friday 22nd October 2010 to Dr Michael Higgins : Michael.higgins@strath.ac.uk

Please note that this is an earlier deadline than for non-MPG submissions and late proposals will not be entertained.

In common with previous years, abstracts submitted for the MPG stream will be subject to two levels of peer review. In addition, the PSA have a policy of limiting panels to one postgraduate student.

Dr Michael Higgins, Media and Politics Group, co-convenor
Department of English Studies
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
michael.higgins@strath.ac.uk

CfP Special Issue "Online Deliberation : Developments and future directions", Journal of Information Technology & Politics

Stéphanie Wojcik — 2010-08-28T09:19:56Z

Call for Papers
Special Issue - Journal of Information Technology & Politics
Online deliberation : Developments and future directions

Guest Editors :
Stephen Coleman, Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds.
Giles Moss, Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds.

Over the past ten years, a sizeable, multidisciplinary body of research has developed which is focused on analyzing new sites and practices of public deliberation online. This special issue of the Journal of Information Technology and Politics, following on from the 2010 Online Deliberation conference held at the University of Leeds, aims to take stock of this field of research and debate the future direction it should take. The editors invite original papers that reflect critically on the development of online deliberation theory, practice, and research, as well as contributions that introduce new research findings and innovative theoretical and empirical approaches to the field.

Full drafts of all papers are due by 3 December, 2010
Papers will be returned to authors by 25 March, 2011
Final versions of papers must be received by 20 May, 2011

Submission information
Details of submission types can be found here : http://www.jitp.net/m_submiss.php. In preparing manuscripts for submission, authors are asked to review the information on replication (http://www.jitp.net/m_replicat.php), the JITP checklist for APA style (http://www.jitp.net/files/jitp_style_checklist.pdf), and the referee guidelines (http://www.jitp.net/files/refguide.pdf)

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically using the JITP's online system : http://www.jitp.net/m_submit.php. When submitting your manuscript, please state (using the relevant field) that the submission is for the ‘Online Deliberation' special issue.

CfP 2nd International Conference on Society and Information Technologies, Orlando (USA), 27-30 March 2011

Stéphanie Wojcik — 2010-08-28T09:04:35Z

2nd International Conference on Society and Information Technologies : ICSIT 2011
March 27th - 30th, 2011 - Orlando, Florida, USA

http://www.2011iiisconferences.org/ICSIT

Papers/Abstracts Submission and Invited Session Proposals : September 8th, 2010
Authors Notifications : November 15th, 2010
Camera-ready, full papers : December 6th, 2010

Technical keynote speakers will be selected from early submissions because this selection requires an additional evaluation according to the quality of the paper, assessed by its reviewers, the authors' CV and the paper's topic.

All Submitted papers/abstracts will go through three reviewing processes : (1) double-blind (at least three reviewers), (2) non-blind, and (3) participative peer reviews. These three kinds of review will support the selection process of those papers/abstracts that will be accepted for their presentation at the conference, as well as those to be selected for their publication in JSCI Journal.

Pre-Conference and Post-conference Virtual sessions (via electronic forums) will be held for each session included in the conference program, so that sessions papers can be read before the conference, and authors presenting at the same session can interact during one week before and after the conference. Authors can also participate in peer-to-peer reviewing in virtual sessions.

Submissions for Face-to-Face or for Virtual Participation are both accepted. Both kinds of submissions will have the same reviewing process and the accepted papers will be included in the same proceedings.

Authors of accepted papers who registered in the conference can have access to the evaluations and possible feedback provided by the reviewers who recommended the acceptance of their papers/abstracts, so they can accordingly improve the final version of their papers. Non-registered authors will not have access to the reviews of their respective submissions.

Registration fees of an effective invited session organizer will be waived according to the policy described in the web page (click on 'Invited Session', then on 'Benefits for the Organizers of Invited Sessions'), where you can get information about the ten benefits for an invited session organizer. For Invited Sessions Proposals, please visit the conference web site, or directly to http://www.2011iiisconferences.org/icsit/organizer.asp

Authors of the best 10%-20% of the papers presented at the conference (included those virtually presented) will be invited to adapt their papers for their publication in the Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics.

HALEVA-AMIR Sharon

Stéphanie Wojcik — 2010-08-22T15:46:30Z

HALEVA-AMIR Sharon (sharon@trebcon.com ; sharoni.haleva.amir@gmail.com)
PhD candidate, Haifa Center of Law & Technology, University of Haifa (Israel)

Research topics :

My research interest focuses on e-Democracy and e-Politics. My doctoral dissertation questions the personal websites use MKs (Members of Knesset) do. I am also tracking Israeli parliamentarians' general web use, through other applications mainly Twitter and Facebook, mainly during their constituency and not only during electoral campaigns.

Publications :

Sharon Haleva-Amir, "Present – Absentees : MK's Usage of Personal Internet Tools", in Erez Cohen & Azi Lev-On (eds.) Connected : Politics, Technology and Society in Israel (Tel Aviv : Israeli Political Science Association, Forthcoming) (Hebrew).

Sharon Haleva-Amir, "Israeli Politicians Online : Analog or Digital Politics", Israeli Affairs (Forthcoming)

Sharon Haleva-Amir, "'This site's aim is to maintain a useful, stable, ongoing connection with the public' : On the Gap between Texts and Applications in Knesset Members' Personal Websites", Internet & Policy (Forthcoming)

Raphael Cohen-Almagor & Sharon Haleva-Amir, "The Israel-Hezbollah War and the Winograd Committee", Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law 2 (October 2008), 27-44.

Raphael Cohen-Almagor & Sharon Haleva-Amir, "Bloody Wednesday in Dawson College - The Story of Kimveer Gil, or Why Should We Monitor Certain Websites to Prevent Murders", Studies in Ethics, Law and Technology, Vol. 2, No. 3, Article 1 (December 2008).

TALPIN Julien and WOJCIK Stéphanie, "Deliberating Environmental Policy Issues : Comparing the Learning Potential of Online and Face-To-Face Discussions on Climate Change", Policy & Internet, 2010

Stéphanie Wojcik — 2010-08-19T17:36:57Z

Just published :
Talpin, Julien and Wojcik, Stéphanie (2010) "Deliberating Environmental Policy Issues : Comparing the Learning Potential of Online and Face-To-Face Discussions on Climate Change," Policy & Internet : Vol. 2 : Iss. 2, Article 4.
Available at : http://www.psocommons.org/policyandinternet/vol2/iss2/art4

To what extent is political participation deepened and enriched by the Internet ? Is the Internet more inclusive - especially towards the young -than traditional forms of participation requiring physical contact ? Do people learn more by discussing on the Internet - and especially in online political forums - than by deliberating face-to-face ?
We aim to answer these questions by presenting the results of research based on the observation of a deliberative experience that allowed both online and face-to-face participation, namely the IDEAL-EU project, carried out by the Tuscany (Italy), Catalonia (Spain), and Poitou-Charentes (France) regions.
IDEAL-EU was aimed at involving young people - between ages 14 and 30 - to discuss the issue of climate change in order to produce a report to be handed to the President of the European Parliament Commission on Climate Change. It first consisted in online discussion forums, and then in an electronic town meeting organized in the three regions' capitals in November 2008. This town meeting involved both keypad voting and face-to-face discussions in small groups.
The comparison of these two stages of the experience allows evaluation of the respective effects of online and face-to-face political discussions on young participants' political knowledge. Using content analysis of websites, direct observation of the assembly, and interviews and questionnaires completed by both online and assembly participants, we evaluate the respective effects of these different forms of civic engagement for actors' perceived level of knowledge on climate change and on their political competence more generally.

GRANJON Fabien et CARDON Dominique, Médiactivistes, Presses de Sciences Po, 2010

Stéphanie Wojcik — 2010-08-19T17:35:41Z

Vient de paraître :
Dominique Cardon, Fabien Granjon, Médiactivistes, Presses de Sciences Po, coll. "Contester", août 2010, 147 p.

La production de l'information est depuis longtemps un enjeu de lutte. Le développement de vastes conglomérats de médias professionnels tout au long du XXe siècle n'a cessé de susciter des inquiétudes et d'encourager le développement d'un « médiactivisme » qui s'est construit en opposition, ou à côté, des médias dominants.

Ce médiactivisme a dès l'origine pris deux chemins parallèles : celui d'un combat contre l'hégémonie culturelle des espaces publics traditionnels et celui de la production d'un autre type d'information sur des bases militantes, locales et communautaires. Aussi son évolution doit-elle être pensée en interaction étroite avec celles de l'espace journalistique et des transformations du répertoire d'action du mouvement social

Cet ouvrage propose une histoire des médias alternatifs depuis les années 1960. Il s'attache à mettre en évidence sa variété, des expériences de presse révolutionnaire au mediactivisme en réseau du mouvement altermondialiste, en passant par les médias communautaires, l'internet militant, le mouvement des radios libres ou encore la création d'agences de presse dans les pays du Sud.