[Air-l] CFP: mobile democracy

[Sean Cubitt]

apologies for cross-listing

Call for Papers
M-Democracy
a Special Session at the
Euro mGov 2005, 10-12 July 2005, Sussex University, Brighton, UK
http://www.icmg.mgovernment.org/specialsessions.htm

Session Chair:

Associate Professor Mary Griffiths
Department of Screen and Media
University of Waikato
Hamilton 1
N.Z.

Email : maryg at waikato.ac.nz
Ph.	+64 7 856 2889 ext. 8604
Fax. +64 7 838 4767

Combining e-government and mobility, The First Euro Conference on 
Mobile Government (EURO mGOV 2005) aims to attract Representatives 
from the Public Sector, Academia, and IT and Telecom Companies, to 
establish a forum and networking platform for discussion and 
dissemination of knowledge on all aspects of Mobile Government 
including research, policy, implementation issues and impact on the 
government organizations and the society.  More information can be 
found at http://www.icmg.mgovernment.org

Session title: M-Democracy

Converging new communication technologies and uses, and the 
associated new media trainings, are impacting on traditional 
democratic public spheres and polities globally. Mobile connectivity 
has been directly instrumental in altering political events in the 
Philippines, and elsewhere in, for example, the recent US election 
campaigns.  Political representatives' websites and blogs are 
enhancing the building of community, participation, democratic 
transparency and accountability. By interacting online in 
'horizontal' ways, mobilized citizen journalists are also making a 
democratic contribution by acting as watchdogs on government, and the 
mainstream media, through the free circulation of information. But 
the current priority uses of the internet (e-commerce and 
entertainment) and the hi-functionality mobile phone (intimate 
personal communication) have an initial tendency to make both 
technologies powerful individualizers and commodifiers. The regular 
conduct of print, online, television, radio, phone opinion polls; the 
customization of online news and other information sent to pcs and 
mobile phones;  and the address of entertainment media audiences 
through quasi-democratic online ballots and competitions are all 
phenomena which are transforming mediated, mobile democracies.

Can the approaches and mobile technologies used to build connectivity 
and consumerism be equally useful for mobilizing reflective 
democratic practice?

What can governments and/or citizens successfully transfer from 
existing interactive media practices, in order to build stronger 
democracies?

Is the trend to 'me media' rather than 'we media' militating against 
older forms of civic behavior and active citizenship?

Both case studies and research papers are invited for this session.



Submission Instructions:

All interested authors should initially send a page-long paper 
proposal to the session chair at maryg at waikato.ac.nz  to see the 
suitability of their paper for the session.

All full paper submissions are subject to EURO mGOV submission and 
review procedures as outlined at 
http://www.icmg.mgovernment.org/submission.htm.  Please send your 
full paper submissions to submissions at mgovernment.org *and* copy (Cc) 
ing to the session chair at maryg at waikato.ac.nz by the full paper 
submission deadline (January, 28, 2005) indicating "special session" 
on the subject line *and*  the title of the session at the top of the 
first page of the paper.

-- 
Sean Cubitt * Screen and Media Studies * University of Waikato * 
Private Bag 3105 * Hamilton * New Zealand * seanc at waikato.ac.nz * T: 
+64 (0)7 838 4543 * F: +64 (0)7 838 4767

http://www.waikato.ac.nz/film