[liberationtech] CFP for ICA preconference on China & Net World

[Yosem Companys]

China and the New Internet World:

Proposal for an ICA 2013 Preconference at the University of Oxford

Abstract:

The 2013 ICA conference will be held in London from 17 to 21 June 2013.
Oxford University, in collaboration with academic partners, proposes to
hold a pre-conference (prior to the London Conference) in Oxford, from 10am
to 4pm on Friday 14 June. The preconference will be organized around a
small number of plenary sessions and several streams of parallel panels.

The pre-conference will focus on China in the New Internet World. The
programme will be open for short abstracts of proposed papers to be
presented at the pre-conference, with abstracts due by 15 December 2012,
and completed papers due by 1 May 2013. All abstracts should be sent to
events @ oii dot ox dot ac dot uk.

Organizers:

The pre-conference will be organized by the Oxford Internet Institute (OII)
in collaboration with the Programme of Comparative Media Law and Policy
(PCMLP) and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) at the
University of Oxford, in partnership with the Chinese Internet Research
Conference (CIRC), the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at
USC, the Center for Global Communications Studies at the Annenberg School
for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, the Global
Communication Research Institute at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and
Singapore Internet Research Center at Nanyang Technological University.

Sponsors:

Taylor and Francis/Routledge

Theme:

The rising prominence of China is one of the most important developments
shaping the global implications of the Internet, and related information
and communication infrastructures. Once typified primarily by Internet
users in the USA, there are now more Internet users in China than there are
Americans on the planet.

By 2015, the proportion of Chinese language Internet users is expected to
exceed the proportion of English language users.1 These are just two
aspects of a larger shift in the centre of gravity of Internet use across
the globe in which the major growth is increasingly in Asia and the rapidly
developing economies of the Global South, such as BRIC nations of Brazil,
Russia, India and China. These are the developing contours of a ‘New
Internet World’.2

A 2013 ICA Preconference proposes to explore the issues raised by these
developments, focusing on several interrelated questions:

1. How can we best conceptualize and contextualize the changing nature of
Internet usage in China?

2. How will the rise of China and the New Internet World reshape the global
use and societal implications of the Internet?

3. How will China itself be reshaped by these regional and global
developments?

4. Are these developments empowering or disempowering individuals, groups,
or governments in China or globally, in any arena, from the political to
the economic or cultural?

We propose to invite abstracts of papers for presentation, and a selected
number of keynote speakers to address these questions across a range of
topical areas, including:

* social implications of the Internet for everyday life and work;
* industrial and economic implications, including local, national, regional
or global economic development;
* public policy and regulation related to the press, media, and the
Internet and related social media;
* organization and practices of Internet and mass media organizations in
the context of technological convergence of journalism and the provision of
information on the Internet, as is illustrated by newspapers moving online,
and bloggers moving into online news;
* issues raised by cross-national and cross-sector differences, such as
between journalism and the Internet, in the cultures, ideologies, and
business enterprises meeting online; and
* political roles of the press and the Internet, such as around
accountability and the Fourth and Fifth Estates.

These are only indicative of the range of topics to be explored, as we
welcome proposals that add new dimensions or challenge fundamental
assumptions about the rise of China and the very idea of a New Internet
World. Case studies and comparative case studies of innovative areas of
converging or diverging developments are welcomed, as are studies based on
any methodological approach, from survey research to webmetrics and related
efforts to exploit big data sources.

Structure of the Pre-Conference:

The organizing committee of the ICA Preconference will design an opening
and closing plenary session, bracketing a range of parallel sessions that
permit the widest possible range of topics to be explored. We expect to
organize panels on journalism, media policy, social implications of the
Internet, the New Internet World as a topic in itself, and more. The
organizers would welcome proposals for papers on any topic relevant to the
theme of China and the New Internet World as well as any proposal of topics
that you believe the conference should address.

The pre-conference will be followed by a dinner on the 14th and the meeting
of the Chinese Internet Research Conference (CIRC) on Saturday, the 15th of
June, designed to complement and build on the ICA Pre-Conference event.

Deadlines for Proposals and Registration:

Proposals for abstracts are due by 15 December 2012. All abstracts should
be sent to ICA TO PROVIDE. Authors of successful proposals will be notified
by 1 February 2013. Completed papers will be due by 1 May 2013.

Those attending ICA may register for this preconference, whether or not
they are presenting a paper, through the normal ICA Conference Registration
process. See:
http://www.icahdq.org/conf/index.asp

1 Broadband Commission (2012), The State of Broadband 2012:
Achieving Digital Inclusion for All: A Report of the Broadband Commission
for Digital Development. Broadband Commission of ITU and UNESCO.

2 See: Dutta, S., Dutton, W. H. and Law, G. (2011), The New Internet World:
A Global Perspective on Freedom of Expression, Privacy, Trust and
Security Online: The Gobal Information Technology Report 2010-2011. New
York: World Economic Forum, April. Available at SSRN:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1810005
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