[Air-L] CfP: 2008 Global Internet Governance Academic Network Symposium, Hyderabad

[Ralf Bendrath]

more on GigaNet: http://www.igloo.org/giganet


Third Annual GigaNet Symposium
2 December 2008 - Hyderabad, India
Hyderabad International Conference Center (HICC)

Call for Papers

The Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet) is a scholarly 
community that promotes the development of Internet governance as a 
recognized, interdisciplinary field of study and facilitates informed 
dialogue on policy issues and related matters between scholars and 
governments, international organizations, the private sector, and civil 
society.

Each year, GigaNet organizes a one-day research symposium in conjunction 
with the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and in the same 
premises. After the first two editions in Athens, Greece (October 2006) 
and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (November 2007), the third GigaNet Annual 
Symposium will be held on December 2, 2008, in Hyderabad, India, the day 
before the 3rd IGF meeting. Attendance at the Symposium will be open to 
all and free of charge. The Symposium will be at the same location as the 
IGF and registration with the UN as an IGF participant may be necessary to 
gain entry to the building.

This is a call for papers from scholars interested in presenting an 
original research paper at the conference.

Submission topics
In addition to papers on methodological aspects of Internet 
governance-related studies, this year's Symposium particularly encourages 
submissions on the following themes, which are described in more detail below:
1. Comparing Internet Governance to other Global Governance Domains
2. Networked Governance Theories and the Institutionalization of Internet 
Governance
3. The Role of NGOs, Social Movements and Civil Society in Internet Governance
4. Year 3 of the UN Internet Governance Forum: Assessing its Structure, 
Process and Impact
5. Law and Jurisdictions in Internet Governance
6. Copyright Protection, Internet Service Providers and Technical 
Mechanisms of Control
7. Internationalized Domain Names: Expanding Access or Tower of Babel?

Submission requirements
Applicants should submit: 1) an abstract of 800-1000 words, in English, of 
the proposed paper that describes the main research question(s), methods 
employed, and the paper’s relevance and value to the thematic area; and 2) 
a one page summary curriculum vitae listing in particular the applicant’s 
current institutional affiliation(s), advanced degrees, scholarly 
publications relevant to Internet governance, and web sites, if available.

Submission materials should be emailed directly to the chairperson of the 
2008 Program Committee, Dr. Meryem Marzouki, at Meryem.Marzouki at lip6.fr by 
no later than July 15, 2008, midnight GMT.

Members of the 2008 program committee will review submissions according to 
the same criteria. In order to ensure fairness of the evaluation process, 
submissions that do not conform to the requested format will not be 
considered.

The Program Committee will notify applicants of its decisions via email by 
September 15, 2008.

A full paper upon which oral or poster presentation will be based must be 
delivered to the same address by October 10, 2008, midnight GMT in order 
for the author(s) to be included in the program.

While GigaNet asserts no copyright to authors’ work, it is expected that 
the version of the paper presented orally or as poster will be made 
available for posting on the GigaNet website.

Travel scholarships for a few outstanding accepted papers may be available 
for scholars who would otherwise be unable to attend. Applicants who are 
accepted will be informed of these opportunities after September 15.

2008 GigaNet Symposium Program Committee:
- Ana Abreu, Labeurb/Unicamp and Paulista University, Campinas (SP), Brazil
- Slavka Antonova, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
- Meryem Marzouki, LIP6/PolyTIC-CNRS Laboratory, Paris, France (Chair)
- John Mathiason, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, 
Syracuse University, Syracuse (NY), USA
- Milton Mueller, Syracuse University School of Information Studies, 
Syracuse (NY), USA
- Max Senges, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
- Rolf H. Weber, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

Important dates:
- 15 July 2008: abstract submission deadline (to be sent to: 
Meryem.Marzouki at lip6.fr)
- 15 September 2008: notification to applicants
- 10 October 2008: full papers due
- 15 October 2008: 2008 GigaNet symposium program finalized
- 2 December 2008: 2008 GigaNet symposium, HICC, Hyderabad, India

Topics Description

1. Comparing Internet Governance to other Global Governance Domains
The concept of global governance has flourished in a number of fields: 
trade, security, environment, development -- as well as Internet. However, 
most general analyses of global governance ignore global Internet 
governance. Conversely, very few Internet governance analyses are 
conducted through comparative frameworks. Submissions are invited to help 
frame Internet governance in a broader, global governance perspective. 
What could be learnt from experiences of global governance in other 
fields? Are there any general instruments and methods of global 
governance, irrespective of the domain area it addresses? Could some 
similarities or invariants of a global governance process be identified?

2. Networked Governance Theories and the Institutionalization of Internet 
Governance
The global policy discourse on Internet governance involves more diverse 
actors and newly created institutions. There is a need to explore the 
dynamics of this changing institutionalization process through theoretical 
and empirical analysis. Recent work explores network forms of organization 
in political and governance contexts, at national and international 
levels, most notably with the concept of “transgovernmental networks” to 
solve sector-specific problems. We call for papers that apply, test and 
criticize ideas of “networked governance” in the context of global 
Internet governance. We encourage submissions that analyze collaborative 
policy-making in related institutions and interactions between them. We 
are especially interested in papers that critically analyze these forms of 
governance in terms of fairness and accountability and their relationship 
to democratic principles. Can presently excluded or minority communities 
enhance their participation? Beyond the expert discourse and the interplay 
amongst dedicated stakeholders, can networked governance represent people, 
rather than just established interests and agencies? What are the 
available tools and practices to facilitate their participation and 
deliberation, in terms of discourse, collaboration and decision-making?

3. Role of NGOs, Social Movements and Civil Society in Internet Governance
Important but subtle transformations have occurred in the role and 
participation of non-governmental and non-business actors in the 6 years 
since the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS). WSIS witnessed a 
somewhat usual situation, where organized social actors participated from 
inside the process through structured non-governmental organizations, and 
social movements exercised some more radical pressure from the outside. 
Since the creation of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF), this mode of 
participation has turned into a “consensus-based cooperation”, where civil 
society actors are supposed to contribute on equal footing with 
governments and business actors, in most cases in their individual 
capacity and rather disconnected from social movements. We seek papers 
that analyze the evolution of involved social actors and their 
structuring, especially with regards to the historical evolution of the 
concept of civil society, and to explore in which ways and to what extent 
these transformations may be related to the move from government to 
governance.

4. Year 3 of the UN Internet Governance Forum: Assessing its Structure, 
Process and Impact
The WSIS created and mandated the IGF to address critical, value-adding 
global Internet governance functions that cannot be entirely performed by 
any existing institution. This includes: highlighting emerging issues, 
assessing the embodiment of WSIS principles, and strengthening the 
participation of stakeholders in Internet governance mechanisms. 
Furthermore, the IGF was defined as “multilateral, multi-stakeholder, 
democratic and transparent” body; it has been structured through a 
Secretariat, a multi-stakeholder advisory group (MAG), and a special 
advisory group to the MAG’s chair; and for 3 years, it has been operating 
as an open discursive space, prepared through open consultation sessions. 
Submissions are invited to explore whether the IGF has fulfilled its 
mandate at this step, which difficulties can be identified and how they 
could be solved. Has the IGF structure, management and advisory mechanisms 
proven to be adequate and compliant with the WSIS Tunis Agenda 
requirements? What strengths could be reinforced and weaknesses overcome?

5. Law and Jurisdictions in Internet Governance
The Internet must now be considered a major factor when elaborating 
regulatory principles to deal with the circulation of content and data and 
with the protection of the general communications infrastructure. This is 
not an easy task because of its implications on the respect for universal 
human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, where States 
differ widely on their implementation of these international standards, 
even among coherent regional entities. The task becomes even more complex 
due to conflicts of competences among overlapping jurisdictions. We seek 
papers that identify and explore conflicts among national laws and 
attempts to harmonize them. We also seek papers that explore the relevance 
to the global Internet of public and private international law currently 
in force or being considered in ongoing international negotiations. 
Submissions analyzing the role and positions of various players in these 
processes are also encouraged.

6. Copyright Protection, Internet Service Providers and Technical 
Mechanisms of Control
We encourage papers that examine attempts to impose copyright protection 
on the Internet through the intermediary of Internet service providers. 
This theme bridges the topics of network neutrality and intellectual 
property, inspired by recent incidents, such as a Belgian ISP’s order by a 
court to use deep packet inspection to catch copyright infringement in 
transit, and Comcast's notorious interference with BitTorrent, which also 
was probably stimulated in part by copyright protection concerns. Papers 
can explore the feasibility and “state of the art” of packet inspection 
and other relevant techniques, analyze copyright industry and ISP industry 
interactions from a political economy standpoint, or examine appropriate 
policy responses to new and powerful packet inspection techniques.

7. Internationalized Domain Names: Expanding Access or Tower of Babel?
We encourage papers on the economic, cultural and compatibility issues 
raised by the migration to a new standard for Internet domain names that 
allows them to reflect non-Roman scripts such as Chinese or Cyrillic. 
Internationalized domain names (IDNs) have a double-edged effect: they 
widen access for non-English or ASCII readers by making domain names 
easier to use, but they also introduce compatibility problems among people 
communicating across language boundaries, as one party may not know how to 
read or input the address of the other party. There are also interesting 
questions of competition policy, as the Internet Corporation for Assigned 
Names and Numbers (ICANN) must decide whether to give new generic top 
level domains (TLDs) in IDN scripts to incumbents operating ASCII TLDs 
with similar meanings, or to new competitors. Issues of consumer confusion 
and cross-linguistic disputes can also arise.