[Air-l] CFP: Online Deliberation 2005 / DIAC-2005

[Todd Davies]

                    *** Call for Participation ***

                2nd Conference on Online Deliberation:
                    Design, Research, and Practice
                               DIAC 2005

                 Website: www.online-deliberation.net

                            May 20-22, 2005
                  Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Abstract deadline: March 15, 2005

The Second Conference on Online Deliberation: Design, Research, and
Practice / DIAC 2005, will be held at Stanford University from Friday
through Sunday, May 20-22, 2005. This conference is a follow-up to
"Developing and Using Online Tools for Deliberative Democracy", a two-day
seminar which was held at Carnegie Mellon University in June, 2003. At the
end of the CMU conference, participants agreed to have a follow-up meeting
at Stanford.  We would like to solidify the conference as a regular event,
and to discuss the possibility of establishing a new society for online
deliberation that will bring together researchers, designers, and
practitioners whose work bears on this area.  This conference is also the
latest in a series of conferences on Directions and Implications of
Advanced Computing (DIAC), presented in association with the Public Sphere
Project (a CPSR Initiative).

We welcome proposals for presentations and workshops from both within and
outside academia. An edited volume of abstracts and selected full papers
from the conference is planned for publication afterward through CSLI
Publications, a division of the University of Chicago Press. Topics of
interest include:

* Online deliberation and groupware design
* Computer-supported cooperative work
* Uses and implications of the Internet for democratic participation
* E-consultation and E-rulemaking
* Online facilitation and community-building
* Research on virtual communities
* Uses of groupware in organizations
* Online learning communities
* Social decision procedures for online environments
* Analyzing online dialogue
* Email and listservs
* Chatrooms and instant messaging
* Message boards and blogs
* Collaborative editing and wikis
* Online organizing and petitions
* Teleconferencing
* Mobile communication and "smart mobs"
* Smart rooms and iRooms
* Immersive virtual environments
* Multilingual online communities and machine translation
* Secure communication and voting
* Information systems support for deliberation
* Lessons from "offline" deliberation and democracy
* Distributed design
* IP, ownership and "copyleft"
* Digital divides, usability, and accessibility
* Free speech and censorship online
* Communication across platforms

All of the above topics bear on whether Internet tools for deliberation
can truly deepen democracy -- in groups, communities, and societies --and,
if so, how. But work on these topics is spread over many and diverse
disciplines: computer science, the social sciences, education, law, public
policy, philosophy, social work, and information science, just to name a
few. It involves scholars, designers, and practitioners from all over the
world. This conference, like the one at CMU in 2003, is an attempt to
bring these perspectives together so that we can all widen our horizons.

The focus of the conference is not the Internet, society, and politics
generally, but rather work that is especially related to online
deliberation tools and their use. "Deliberation" denotes "thoughtful,
careful, or lengthy consideration" by individuals, and "formal discussion
and debate" in groups (Collins English Dictionary, 1979). We are therefore
primarily interested in online communication that is reasoned, purposeful,
and interactive, but the power and predominance of other influences on
political decisions (e.g. mass media, appeals to emotion and authority,
and snap judgements) obviously make them relevant to the prospects for
deliberative e-democracy. Topics such as technology policy and social
networks are of interest, but proposals around such topics for this
conference should relate them to online deliberation.

Proposals should be submitted under one of the following categories:

PAPER PRESENTATION
A proposal to present a paper may include an abstract of up to 300 words.
Accepted authors will have until May 1 to upload a draft of their full
paper so that conference attendees and an assigned discussant can read it
before the conference.  Paper presenters will have between 15 and 25
minutes to present their paper, depending on the time available in the
final schedule.  A limited number of papers will be selected for full-text
print publication in a book that will be issued after the conference.
Authors who are invited to publish their paper in the edited volume will
have until July 1 to produce camera-ready copy.  Papers that are not
included in the book willl have their abstracts published instead.

DEMO OR TALK
A proposal to give a demonstration or talk may include an abstract of up
to 300 words, which should describe the presentation that is being
proposed.  Accepted presenters will be given 15-25 minutes to present
their work, depending on the time available in the final schedule.
Presenters may, at their option, upload full papers on the conference web
site prior to the conference, but a discussant will not be assigned if the
submission is made in a category other than "paper presentation".
Abstracts will be published in the edited volume that will be issued after
the conference.

PANEL OR SHORT WORKSHOP A proposal for a panel or short workshop may
include an abstract of up to 500 words.  The abstract should include the
names of proposed presenters or hosts, as well as a description of the
proposed workshop/panel.  Workshops/panels are expected to last about 75
minutes.  Presenters/participants may, at their option, upload full papers
on the conference web site prior to the conference.  Abstract-length (500
word)  summaries of each workshop/panel will be published in the edited
volume that will be issued after the conference, and will be due from the
workshop/panel organizers by June 1.  The conference online discusssion
forum (linked from the conference homepage) is available as a venue for
networking on panel and workshop proposals.

EXTENDED WORKSHOP A proposal for an extended workshop may include an
abstract of up to 700 words.  The abstract should include the names of
proposed presenters or hosts, as well as a description of the proposed
workshop.  Workshops are expected to last either for a hafl day or a full
day.  If a proposal is not accepted as an extended workshop, the proposed
presenters/hosts may be offered the opportunity to do a short workshop
instead.  Participants may, at their option, upload full papers to the
conference web site prior to the conference. Abstract-length (700 word)
summaries of each workshop will be published in the edited volume that
will be issued after the conference, and will be due from the workshop
organizers by June 1.  The conference online discussion forum (linked from
the conference homepage) is available as a venue for networking on
workshop proposals.

The conference will be held at Stanford University in rooms equipped with
overhead and laptop projection equipment, screens, and chalkboards.
Presenters will need to take responsibility for any computer equipment,
slides, or other audio-visual aids needed for their presentations.

If space is available, we will try to facilitate impromptu workshops and
group discussions that are organized informally during the conference.
Organizers of these discussions will also be invited to submit 300-word
summaries at the conclusion of the conference for publication in the
edited volume.

Co-sponsored by the Symbolic Systems Program, the Center for Deliberative
Democracy, the Center for the Study of Language and Information, and the
Center for Internet and Society at Stanford University, in association
with the Public Sphere Project (a CPSR Initiative)

For more information, consult the conference website:
http://www.online-deliberation.net/conf2005.